Food, Farming and Countryside Commission

🍃 Good to hear Wales’ First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth prioritise preventative health & community wealth in his leader’s speech. 🧩 Food, farming & land are central to these ambitions. Good, local food can nourish current & future generations, ease pressure on the NHS and support rural communities.

🎉 Great to see a £10 million fund for local communities to help get healthy, affordable food to more people. Earlier this year, the Council published findings from the What Works Here Inquiries, calling on government to give regions the power and the money to act on regional priorities.

🌱 This is an encouraging first step, with local authorities being given the resources to “develop solutions that meet local needs, putting decision-making and resources directly in the hands of local leaders who know their communities best.” 👉 www.gov.uk/government/n...

🎗Out now: Our Annual Report 25-26 💥 From a groundbreaking programme of citizen engagement to the publication of the Land Use Framework, after years of advocacy, it’s been an eventful year for FFCC. 👉 Read the report: ffcc.co.uk/publications...

📈 Food prices are under scrutiny again. Latest figures show food inflation is down, but many are predicting food prices will rise as the impacts of global conflict & heatwaves come to bear. 🙄 Already, some industry players & politicians are capitalising on the prospect of higher prices to...

... call for business as usual, blaming gov regulation for pushing up costs – rather than a dysfunctional, extractive food economy. 💯 But as Matt, member of the Citizen Advisory Council, says, people in the UK don’t want cheap food at the expense of good food – which is healthy, fair, sustainable.

💡How farmers adapt to extreme weather are the same ways they can reduce on-farm emissions. 🌱 Liz Bowles, @farmcarbontoolkit.bsky.social CEO, talks about how changing weather presents an opportunity for farmers to help tackle climate change and stay resilient to climate-related drought and flooding.

🥬 With possible food shortages and failed harvests dominating headlines, it’s clear the public see food as a critical part of the UK’s national resilience – and want politicians to act.

💡Good interview with @emmahowardboyd.bsky.social on the today about the leadership we need to see on climate change. 🌻 As Emma says, building more resilient, adaptive systems is an investment, not a cost, for our long-term national health, prosperity and security.

🎯 Emma was also right to point out that farmers need support from government and buyers in the supply chain if they’re to transition to more regenerative practices. The conditions they currently operate within – like extractive, commodified, unfair supply chains – work against this.

🗣️ “Let’s start talking much more seriously about the precautionary principle, the polluter paying & the lobbyists” 🏡 Our CEO @suepritch.bsky.social talking at @cprecountryside.bsky.social's Land Use Conference about why we need more honest conversations about how corporate power really works.

👎 Yet more evidence of how Big Food frighten governments around the world into weakening or delaying policies designed to protect our health. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

🇬🇧 In the UK, the public are ahead on this – and don’t trust the kinds of companies resisting regulation. 📊 New polling shows two in three people (66%) do not trust information from food advertisers. Nearly half (45%) do not trust what is printed on packaging and 55% do not trust big food brands.

👎 Yet more evidence of how Big Food frighten governments around the world into weakening or delaying policies designed to protect our health. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

🥦 Across parties, food matters to the public & they want political ambition to reflect this. 🌱 With new leadership in government, this is a real opportunity for imaginative, ambitious food policy that drives regional economic growth, improves health outcomes & makes Britain a fairer place to live.

📣 📊 People across UK want government to take food seriously 🇬🇧 Today, new @moreincommonuk.bsky.social polling reveals the British public agree about food. Across parties & postcodes, most people think the current system isn’t working - yet see food as a critical part of a healthy, thriving society.

Citizens are ready to bring solutions 💥 💪 In this 📽, members of the Citizen Advisory Council tell us why they got involved – and what citizens can uniquely offer politicians and policymakers working on food.

🧩 Rather than coming with vested interests or from a particular discipline, the Council bring their diverse experiences of living within the food system – spotting the gaps that others miss and finding new and innovative solutions.

💯 “Food isn’t a middle class ambition, it’s something most people want to achieve” 📽️ Here, citizens share how food fits into their lives & why they care about it. Across the UK, people, communities & businesses are working against the odds to change food – but conditions are limiting progress.

🗣 “The Citizen Advisory Council’s vital work shines a light on the values we want to see in our food system that are already alive in communities across England” 💯 We couldn’t agree more @stephenmorganmp.bsky.social, DEFRA Farming Minister.

🔥This week, the Citizen Advisory Council published a new report – From the Ground Up – with recommendations for government on how to harness and unlock the huge energy, ambition and action already happening at a local level on food.